From WVRHC: Sketch of Parkersburg during Civil War. Gateway to the interior by water and rail, it was a busy military forwarding center during the war. Terminal of the Northwestern Virginia Railroad, branch of the Baltimore and Ohio from Grafton, river port, and headquarters of the U.S. Navy tin-clad patrol boats it was a key point in the western defense. The long, low building along the river was the railroad freight station. See Boyd Stutler's 'WV in the Civil War.'